Keller did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment. Schrimpsher, reached by phone, would say only that he did not lie.

"I wouldn't testify against my partner, is what it came down to," he said.

Chris Vick, an attorney who represents the King County Sheriff's Guild, said Keller resigned in order to get away from what he described as ongoing harassment.

As for Schrimpsher, he said, Sheriff Sue Rahr should not have fired him.

"It's a totally groundless termination," he said.

According to the Sheriff's Office, the investigation focused on events that took place when the two men worked as partners for Metro Transit on Dec. 27, 2006.

It began when they stopped a man on University Way Northeast for a pedestrian violation. They ended up holding that man handcuffed for 30 minutes in their patrol car for an out-of-state warrant that was not extraditable, in violation of department policy.

While they had the man in cuffs, the two deputies detained two other people. One they let go. But that person was so upset at being detained that he filed a complaint, which led to the internal investigation.

The third person the deputies stopped had an active, local warrant. The deputies finally released the first person they had detained but kept the third one.

The deputies made a deal with this third person, telling him they would not arrest him on the warrant if he would try to set up a drug sting against a dealer for them.

Schrimpsher told investigators that he wanted to make the arrest because another Metro Transit officer had warned him about the dealer. Schrimpsher reportedly claimed to have called this transit officer about the dealer, but that other officer denied any such phone call was made.

According to the Sheriff's Office, this was where problems began for Schrimpsher, who they believe lied about calling the other transit officer.

While this was being set up, the deputies learned that the drug dealer had a felony warrant. They released the third man and went after the dealer.

Keller wrote the report about the dealer's arrest at a nearby motel room.

Sources familiar with the case said Keller described in his report spotting the dealer at a bus stop, where, as a Metro Transit officer, he was to have been policing, then chasing the dealer to the motel room.

But internal investigators said they found that this wasn't what happened. An allegation that Keller had made a fraudulent statement was upheld by the sheriff. No discipline was meted out, however, because he resigned of his own accord.

Schrimpsher's firing prompted King County prosecutors to dismiss at least one case in which he was the arresting officer, but spokesman Dan Donohoe said it did not appear any other cases would be affected. He did not know if any of Keller's cases were affected.

In her Dec. 4, 2007, letter to Schrimpsher, Rahr made it clear why she was firing him.

"I simply do not believe your version of events," she wrote.

Schrimpsher, previously a detective in Missouri, filed a grievance with the guild, which is still considering whether to review the termination.

For Keller, his resignation marks the end of a troubled career with the department.

The former deputy had been on the force a little more than five years when it was alleged that he and other members of an anti-crime team roughed up a would-be drug informant. Keller, another deputy and a Des Moines police officer were all charged in King County Superior Court with unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault.

A jury acquitted Keller of assault, but was deadlocked on the question of whether he and the others had committed unlawful imprisonment. He wasn't retried.

Keller, who had been fired, got his job back. He and his two accused colleagues then sued King County and Rahr.

That lawsuit was dismissed last summer with the federal judge noting that the former law enforcement officers in their suit did not dispute any of the factual allegations that had been brought against them.